This invention relates generally to gun sights and more particularly to a gun sighting system useful for hunting wild game at night or in low or non-existent ambient light conditions.
Heretofore, various illuminating means for firearms, such as flash or flood lights, have generally been attached to either the barrel or stock of the weapon so that the target sought by the marksman may be more readily seen. These devices have been used by the police or military against human targets wherein a bright, clear light source is required under dark or near dark sighting conditions. Exemplary of such is the search light device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,414,such device as used with revolvers as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,150,796 and 1,149,705, and the flashlight attachment for a Thompson sub-machine gun disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,565.
While the known flashlight devices attached to revolvers or rifles may be effective for their intended purposes, namely quickly locating targets, they have inherent shortcomings when hunting nocturnal prey since wild animals are quickly alerted to the bright, clear light source and will run for cover. It is desirable to emit a colored light from a luminous sighting system to decrease the chances of frightening the hunted prey.
It is also desirable to visually align the front and rear iron sights of a weapon under low or non-existent ambient light conditions. In order to overcome this sighting deficiency, various attempts have been made to provide low ambient light sighting systems which employ various arrangements, such as the luminous reticle utilized in a scope disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,671, a lighted bead sight shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,072, a sight lighting device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,799, a front and rear sight lighting device as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,590, luminescent sight blocks on a tube as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,294,963, the luminated sights in a tube shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,248, and illuminated sights on a pistol as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,873. The known illuminated sighting systems have various inherent shortcomings including, the need for some ambient light for their operation, the absence of both an illuminated front and rear sight, the absence of adjustment means to compensate for windage and trajectory, and the absence of intensity adjustment means for illuminated rear sights. For example, the front sight lighting device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,799 utilizes a photosensitive transistor which must receive available light rays to activate appropriate circuitry and illuminate the sight light. The intensity of the light emitting from the front gun sight increases when the amount of ambient light increases, and alternately, the output of light decreases when the amount of ambient light decreases. In the absence of any ambient light, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to discern the unlighted rear gun sight when using that device.
Hunting in low or non-existent ambient light normally requires two or more people--one or more to shoot the prey and one or more to spot the prey with a flashlight. It is desirable to mount a floodlight and illuminated sights to a firearm to facilitate hunting in low or non-existent light by one or more persons.
Thus, these known devices are not suitable for hunting wild game at night since they either emit a bright, clear light beam which will frighten the prey, require some ambient light in order to illuminate the sights, which, necessarily, renders them unsuitable when hunting in complete darkness, fail to provide illuminated front and rear sights, fail to provide positional adjustment means, fail to provide intensity adjustment means for the rear sight light sources, or fail to provide a complete night hunting system operable by one person.